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Knox County Schools learn, adapt to protect students after national tragedies

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student_protection

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) - Protocol and policies are often changed in Knox County after tragic shootings shake the country.

The community has felt the sting of school shootings from the Campbell County shooting in 2005 that claimed the life of an administrator, to Central High School in Knox County where a student died.

At Inskip Elementary in 2010, two administrators were wounded when a teacher opened fire. After the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, Knox County Schools launched an effort to step up security. Among the changes was putting an officer at every school.

KCS tries to learn as much as they can from other tragedies: where there were problems, what went wrong, and what changes we can make as a way to fill in the gap and prevent something similar from happening.

Chief of Security for Knox County Schools, Gus Paidousis, says protection is all about layers and they take preventative measures such as armed security officers, video monitoring, controlled access and training.

"Our students are real important to us,"
he said.

Throughout the year students, teachers and staff in Knox County do intruder or active shooter drills which some are mandated by the state.

"Every time that a drill is done we complete an after action document where we look at it and solve where there may have been problems or gaps or things that need to be fixed,"
added Paidousis.

He says over the last 20 years how we react to active shooters have shifted.

"The biggest change after Columbine was that our first responders realized the first officer or two on scene had to go into the school, had to engage the suspect,"
he said.

The tragedy in Florida is a reminder that if you see something, say something.

"Typically when you look back at school shootings, there were signs and it's just that realization that we need to pay attention to them. And if something doesn't feel right, something doesn't look right or if someone's not acting right, it's okay to have a conversation with a trusted adult and try to help someone,"
said Paidousis.

He says the safety of students isn't just a school district's concern, rather the entire community's concern.

"Every day we have thousands of people here in Knox County whose job it is to protect children and we've just got to keep working at it,"
he said.

When it comes to information exchange, KCS has a text-a-tip program where students can share concerns or possible threats anonymously. Students can text 274637 (which spells CRIMES), type the keyword knoxschools, and then after a space share their tip. It's monitored 24/7.